This article describes the functions that editors perform within publishing houses whose goals combine both economic and cultural components. It discusses the extent to which editors act as relatively passive gatekeepers of cultural forces or as active shapers of them. In light of historical evidence, it suggests that changes are currently taking place which will serve to reduce the importance of the editor in shaping the content of what is published while increasing somewhat the importance of the literary agent.
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References
1.
This issue is discussed at greater length in Michael Lane, The Bookmakers: Publishers and Their Social World, ch. 5–7 (forthcoming). The study is based on interviews with the directors of the 20 most significant British publishing houses and approximately 100 editorial staff members. In addition, considerable use was made of documentary sources and nonparticipant observation
2.
Publishing categories and their relationship to the nature of publishing houses are analyzed in LaneMichael, “Books and Their Publishers,” in Media Sociology, ed. TunstallJ. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press1970), pp. 239–251
3.
An account of editorial role conflict is to be found in LaneMichael, “Publishing Managers, Publishing House Organization and Role Conflict,”Sociology4, no. 3 (1970), pp. 367–383
4.
For a discussion of this issue, see, WilliamsRaymondCulture and Society, 1780–1950 (London: Chatto and Windus1958)
5.
WoolfLeonardThe Journey not the Arrival Matters (London: Hogarth Press1969)
6.
An analysis of balance sheets cannot reveal what emerges from detailed case studies. My own studies suggest that current publishing almost always runs at a loss for which the backlist compensates. See, Lane, The Bookmakers, ch. 4
7.
GrossJohnThe Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson1969), contains some very suggestive material on this point
8.
A detailed breakdown of the social and educational backgrounds of 60 publishing house managers is provided in Lane, “Publishing Managers.”
9.
This observation is based on an analysis of correspondence and house records currently being conducted as part of my study
10.
A more detailed analysis of this point is found in Lane, The Bookmakers.
11.
In my current research, I am conducting interviews in all London literary agencies. The discussion which follows is based on those now completed—approximately half of the total
